Hello to Nova Scotia

"Farewell to Nova Scotia", our friend Ralph always mentioned this song when we talked about our travel plans. He played this song as a musician at the Woodstock Festival in 1969. Today, we said "Hello" instead of "Farewell".

But no one responded...

But there was no one there. Because Nova Scotia, like the rest of Canada we have seen so far, is sparsely populated.

During our entry via the Trans Canada Highway (comparable to the Emscher highway), we saw many forests and fields. It was really like that, not just because it rhymes.

About 20 km after the provincial border, we left the Trans-Canada Highway and got closer to the coast on country roads.

Suddenly, the road took a bend, and there it was, the sea! More precisely, the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

At first, it presented itself with cloudy skies, later in sunshine.

Of course, we stopped to put our feet in the crystal-clear water.

Reports that our foot bath caused a fish kill in the region are clearly "fake news"!!!!!

The road to our next destination, the town of Pictou, always led along the shore.

This region is really beautiful. One could think that the people here have done something special, that God has given them this magnificent land. However, they must have done something wrong because He has sent an army of mosquitoes to torment them! Our first stop and stay outside the car lasted about three minutes. That was enough to be bitten by about ten mosquitoes. But not our small, cute mosquitoes from West Germany, but huge mutant mosquitoes that suck liters of blood. The clever creatures even disguised themselves as flies to get to my sweet life juice!

We reached the Evening Sail B&B around 3:30 p.m., a cute and cozy B&B in the center of Pictou.

Pictou itself is manageable but very picturesque. It is unmistakable that it was founded by Scottish immigrants.

The Scots, along with their bagpipes, landed here on this ship in 1773. Of course, the ship is a replica, just like the bagpipes we heard during our walk.

The mascots of the town are Crab Paul and Captain Iglo.

Our neighbors have also left their marks here...

We also met our cat Findus' cousin...

Now we are in our apartment, Nicole is teaching Aaron some kind of game, and I am writing these lines.

To fulfill my duty as a chronicler, I would like to tell you about our extensive experiences with the local wildlife.

In addition to the already described... mosquitoes, we saw countless flattened porcupines and beavers by the roadside.

So far, we have encountered deer, a moose (it jumped across the road in front of our car in the darkness), a bloodthirsty squirrel, and one fake and two real bald eagles. Depending on their species-specific preference, they either walked or flew past us. Unfortunately, besides the killer squirrel, the animals were so fast that we couldn't get the camera in position quickly enough to photograph them. Except for the beavers and porcupines. But Nicole banned me from photographing flattened animals two years ago...

Tomorrow, we will continue towards Cape Breton Island to the Cabot Trail. It is said to be the most beautiful coastal road in the world. We are excited...